


whose action is no stronger than a flower

by lq_traintracks (lumosed_quill)



Series: Sonnet LXV Series [2]
Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Angst, M/M, Rape Recovery
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-12-29
Updated: 2013-12-29
Packaged: 2018-01-06 13:28:16
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Rape/Non-Con, Underage
Chapters: 1
Words: 940
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1107414
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lumosed_quill/pseuds/lq_traintracks
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Harry starts to move on.  Draco does not.</p>
            </blockquote>





	whose action is no stronger than a flower

**Author's Note:**

> This is the second in a series (that may only have two parts) and is the sequel to 'the wrackful siege of battering days'. Mind the warnings, please.

"I'm all right," he kept telling his friends.

They knew nothing. 

_Just a scuffle._

_Just caught me unaware and roughed me up._

These were his excuses. These were his lies. All with eyes down. All with a dead voice.

Weeks went by, and he smiled at Ron's jokes again. They quit asking him what was the matter.

What was the matter.

The matter was that he couldn't stop remembering it. Feeling it.

Feeling Malfoy.

 

He got good at faking it. He laughed at Ron's jokes now, a full-fledged smile splitting over his face. Even Hermione had backed off. He was eating. He was sleeping. His marks had not suffered.

He knew these were all signs, and he didn't let them show.

When he saw Malfoy in the halls, he looked away.

When he saw the others, he gripped his wand beneath his robes.

The world turned.

 

_Malfoy's whisper in his ear._

_The way his soft hands ripped Harry's shirt, the rending sound of it, like parchment or setting sail._

_The way he kept whispering, drowning out the others – their shouts and the names they called him and the clapping._

_Malfoy moving inside him and that whisper in his ear…_

 

And then he just bumped into him.

He literally slammed into him. Or they slammed into each other.

They were alone, Harry coming back from Pomprey's for having spilled bubotuber pus on himself and Malfoy…well, who knew why Malfoy was out of class and stalking the halls.

They blinked at each other for a moment, two owls mid-flight, feathers ruffled.

Then Malfoy crumpled, his face showing the most vivid fear, a palpable regret that surpassed any words he could have said.

"Excuse me," Harry said stupidly and went to edge past.

He'd taken twelve steps.

"Potter!"

Harry turned his head. He frowned at him and then kept walking, taking the stairs at a clip, his breath too fast, lungs still not finding any air.

 

The weather was warming. Harry spent more and more time outside, on his broom, feet off the ground.

Everything was fine.

Fewer nightmares, better marks.

Malfoy had made attempts to catch his eye. Thankfully, he hadn't tried to corner him or he'd have found the working end of a fist rather than a wand.

Not that Harry blamed him. In fact, Harry knew he'd had to. It was do it himself or let the others have Harry.

And he had not let the others even touch him. 

The spell had been almost unbelievably dark for students to have come up with. Harry knew he should be researching it, trying to find answers, find the people who were actually responsible and make them hurt.

_Make them hurt._

But he wasn't.

He couldn't.

Because that meant remembering.

_…how Malfoy couldn't keep it up and had to replace his flagging cock with three fingers._

_…how Harry had been so hard. …how he'd come – and then again – and then again – until the spell let him go._

_…how Draco had covered Harry with his body like a shield while it happened and dragged him away once it was done._

_"Did you slags think I intended to share him?"_

_That haughty laugh while his hands shook where he held Harry up._

The weather was warm, and flight was good, the air washing him new.

 

The parchment was shaped like a bird, and it flew into the window while the others were asleep, silently landing on his pillow and flapping its papery wings. It cocked its head and then unfolded like a flower.

Harry donned his glasses and read:

_I'm sorry. You'll never know how sorry._

_D_

Harry stared at the words, so black and so quavering, as if the hand that had written them had only just recently picked up a quill.

Harry picked up his own and wrote back.

_The last thing I want is your pity._

_I pity you, Draco._

_H_

He reshaped the parchment, setting a charm on it to turn it into a frog. He watched it hop across the floor, out the door, and down the stairs.

Harry lay back, his arms pillowing his head, and felt a great weight lift from his body and mind.

 

"Don't forget your Remembrall, Neville!" Luna called across the foyer as they all made for the front doors.

Harry turned to shoot an amused smile Neville's way, but his gaze landed instead on Malfoy, walking apart from his mates, head bowed, pulling his trunk like a Muggle.

Harry stopped and watched him until Malfoy seemed to sense the eyes on him and looked up.

They stared at one another for long moments. The Hogwarts Express wailed in the distance. The sun washed through the open doors like spilled magic.

Draco blinked, and Harry watched him swallow.

Harry ever-so-slightly inclined his head.

He walked away, feeling Draco's gaze on his back the while.

He'd have to wait to be forgiven. And Harry knew that was probably the worst punishment he could dole out.

Harry held that power. He held all of it. He hefted his bag over his shoulder and magicked his trunk and the cage ahead of himself.

Maybe he'd never forgive Malfoy. But he probably would, if only to feel the power of it coursing through his veins.

 

_Draco's gentle magic remaking his clothes._

_Draco's tears falling silently onto the cool bedding._

_Draco keeping watch over him until he was strong enough to walk away._

These were the things he'd have to forgive if they were to go on.

Harry watched the scenery change out the window. He let the sun close his eyes and dance visions over his skin.


End file.
